NEPI Rockcastle, JSE-listed owner of retail centres in central and eastern Europe, said yesterday it has acquired Forum Gdansk Shopping Centre in Poland from Multi Veste 339, owned by Blackstone managed funds, for €250 million (R4.61 billion).
The deal is one of the biggest single asset shopping centre transactions in Europe by value in 2022, a statement said.
Forum Gdansk is a 63 500 square metre gross lettable area shopping centre in Gdansk, the sixth largest city in Poland by population, with over 470 000 inhabitants.
Gdansk, together with the cities of Gdynia and Sopot, comprise the “Tricity region”, which is considered to be one of Poland’s largest, wealthiest and fastest growing urban agglomerations.
NEPI Rockcastle CEO Rüdiger Dany said in a statement the transaction was accretive to distributable earnings and was in line with their strategy to increase the concentration of the portfolio in countries with investment grade rating and focus on core dominant properties.
“With a catchment area of over 840 000 people (within 30 minutes drive), the property enjoys a strategic location in the city, with excellent visibility and access from all city districts,” he said.
Forum Gdansk has an occupancy rate of 93%, including anchor tenants such as Eurospar, H&M, Helios, Reserved, TK Maxx, Van Graaf and Zara.
“The property has outstanding operational performance and is well positioned for future growth, both organically and through further value enhancement,” NEPI Rockcastle said.
“We are long-term investors and we are confident that fundamentally central and eastern Europe is a region that will continue to show further economic growth in the future“, said Dany.
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